A disabled woman was left furious when she was told to move by a flight attendant so fellow passengers could sit with their cat.
The 25-year-old and her 32-year-old husband, who "both have significant invisible disabilities", boarded a plane home at the end of a trip.
The woman, whose foot was in "unbearable pain" after a recent fall down the stairs, so she was exhausted relieved to be settled into her seat.
Then a couple boarded the plane with a cat in a carrier and sat down in the front row.
"After a while, the flight attendant tells them that they cannot have a pet in a carrier in first row because there is no seat to put it under," the woman recalled on Reddit.
"She asks the couple if one could switch to a different seat with the cat, and the couple starts to argue that they want to sit together.
"The flight attendant comes and asks us to switch with them. There was an empty seat directly behind the couple and at least ten other people directly around us, and we're in the third row back on the other side.
"We said no politely and explained that I'm disabled. I explained that it took a lot to get to my seat, I boarded early for extra time, and that I was in so much pain that I didn't want to get up again."
The flight attendant returned to the couple and continued discussing the issue with them, before returning to the woman and again asked her to move.
"The fight attendant proceeded to tell us that we would have to give up our seats if they couldn't find someone else willing to switch," she continued.
"I'm not a confrontational person, so I just told her that this was not an appropriate way to treat disabled customers.
"The couple could sit one behind the other or someone else could give up their seat, but I wouldn't be moving from the seat I paid for."
The woman added; "I would rather not have to gather all of my belongings and walk dizzy/painfully to another seat just to have extra room I didn't need when the couple could simply split up."
Eventually the situation was resolved when another passenger next to an empty seat agreed to move.
"But by that point, I was so angry, and the couple and the flight attendant were openly glaring at us," she continued. "She was fairly rude the rest of the flight."
The vast majority of commenters on the site backed the woman up for refusing to move seats.
"I would file a complaint with the airline," one person wrote.
"Especially when physically disabled, the stewardess was out of line telling you that you had to move.
"They should have advised the person with the cat before assigning their seat."
Another added: "Good on you for standing up for yourself and don’t let a situation like this discourage you from standing up for yourself in the future."
A third wrote: " As a frequent flier, I take the time to select my seat whether I paid for it or not. If it is a paid seat, you do not have to change to accommodate someone else, especially for the reason you described.
"What I would have done was gotten that attendant’s name and reported her with the quickness on the airlines social media pages."
Do you think flight attendants should ask people to change seats for others? Let us know in the comments below.
